What is a Manifesto?

A manifesto is a document that sets down all the views and opinions that a political

party has on certain issues and it will tell the reader the ways that the party would

change these issues if they were elected as the government. On an individual basis,

a manifesto is what the candidate would try to do for the people he or she represents

in Parliament if they were elected.

What are some types of manifestos?

1. Political Manifestos
2. Electoral Manifestos
3. Artisitic manifestos
4. Technology manifestos

Political Manifestos

• To express and state their political theories/ ideologies

Famous works:

• The Communist Manifesto (1848), by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

• The United States Declaration of Independence (1776)

Electoral / Political Manifestos

• set out both their strategic direction and outlines of prospective legislation should they win sufficient support in an election to serve in government.

• Legislative proposals in a elected party's manifesto are often regarded as having superior legitimacy compared to others, where they can propose new considerations to the legislature.

• Although, in recent decades the status of electoral manifestos has diminished.

Famous works:

• The Contract with America (1994), by the Republican candidates for the House of Representatives

Artistic Manifestos

• A recurrent feature associated with the avant-garde in Modernism.
• mostly extreme in their rhetoric and intended for shock value to achieve a revolutionary effect.
• They often address wider issues, such as the political system.
• Typical themes are the need for revolution, freedom (of expression) and the implied or overtly stated superiority of the writers over the status quo.
• The manifesto gives a means of expressing, publicising and recording ideas for the artist or art group. 

Famous works:

• The Futurist Manifesto (1909), by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
• The Surrealist Manifesto (1924), by André Breton

Technology Manifestos

• Purpose is mostly to explaim the goals and uses of a new technology product.

Famous works:

• The Third Manifesto (1995), by Christopher J. Date and Hugh Darwen, a proposal for relational database management system
• The GNU Manifesto (1985), by Richard Stallman, an explanation and definition of the goals of the GNU Project

Example - Content from the Communist Manifesto By Marx & Engels

I. Bourgeois and Proletarians 

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.

The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It ... has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “cash payment” ... for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation ... Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.

The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labour. Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the labourers.

What are some tips for writing a manifesto?

• Have something you feel strongly about 

• Have some points you want to make

• Set out your goals and ensure they are realistic & achievable 

• Be concise and use clear language. Avoid pretentious language.

• Type it out

• Your manifesto is about you and not about your opponents. Avoid discrediting and disrespecting others.

• Be relevant. 

• Be creative and inspiring. However, there are rules so make sure that you are not overstepping the mark.

• Expect to be misunderstood: nobody will always agree with your opinions.